Peaches in the Puddin'
by chenoweth.belle
Summary: The puddin' is turning sour in the Peacham household. Sharon needs to confront Zack, but will that open a door for him to leave her for good?


'Sharon baby you sure know how to cook up a storm in this household!' Zack Peacham exclaimed, while eagerly biting into a jam donut. His wife of 20 years, Sharon, stood in the kitchen, leaning over the sink, angrily scraping food remains off of the stainless steel. She had something to say. She knew she wanted to say something, and she was nervous to approach him about it. She knew cooking treats for him would be an easy way into it, so he wouldn't be so angry when she approached him.

'Sharon, where are you honey? Come into the dining room, I wanna' give you a big Southern kiss!' he continued, smacking his lips, licking the delicate white icing from the donut he had eaten so quickly. Sharon sighed, nervously brushing a delicate blonde curl to the side, slowly walking into the dining room. She paused at the door, gently brushing down her apron and hanging it on the rack behind. As she walked to Zack, her heart pounded so fast, she thought she was going to faint.

'Sharon, c'mere sweetie. I missed you at the business today!' Sharon walked over to Zack, sitting dexterously on Zack's lap, resting her arms around his firm shoulders. He placed his large hand on Sharon's thigh, and, surprising her, she jumped apprehensively. Zack was confused; he'd never seen his wife act so suspicious. 'Uh…Sharon, you okay? What's up with you, have a bad day?'

Taking a deep breath, Sharon replied, 'Zack. I… I need to tell you something.'

'What?' Zack was disordered.

_Deep breath_, Sharon thought. 'It's Amanda. You…I…I've seen the way you look at her. Like you used to look at me, but you don't anymore Zack! You love Amanda!' Sharon burst into tears, relieved she'd finally confronted him.

Zack gave a weak smirk. 'Sharon, what in the world makes you think that? You know I have feelings for Amanda, ever since high school. Ha, she's still as beautiful as she was back then...' Ready to ramble about how he felt about Amanda, Zack closed his mouth as soon as he saw the expression on Sharon's face, and he cupped her cheeks in-between his hands. 'But I still love you Sharon. Sharon Peacham, my wife and mommy to my two children. I always will.'

Sharon, usually quiet and content around Zack, snapped. A man was only supposed to love one woman in a marriage according to God and the Bible, and it wasn't her. She knew it. Rolling her eyes, she removed herself from Zack's lap, running out of the room. Turning into the bedroom, she slammed the door just as Zack came running after her. Standing against the door, to avoid Zack entering the room, she quietly cried harder and harder, choking on her tears.

'Sharon! Look, let me in. I can explain.' Zack exclaimed from the other side of the door, panicking that his wife had found out about Amanda.

She wanted to reply, she wanted to scream and shout to him, slap him. Show him what she really wanted to, but she couldn't. She couldn't mouth a single word through her cries, relentlessly sliding down the door until she was crouched in a heap on the floor, her head resting on her knees with her arms for support.

At last Zack managed to open the door, after Sharon became too weak to hold it closed much longer. He'd never seen his wife so upset, and he had no idea how to confront her. He rested his arm on her shoulder, only to be swatted off.

'Get out.' She mumbled angrily, her head still buried on her knees.

'Shar-'

'Get out! Go and see Amanda, the girl who you're so in love with you can't even kiss me when you come home from work. That's if you're not sneaking behind my back with her!'

Zack was surprised. Sharon had never raised her voice once in this household, _for the sake of the children_, she would always say. But Sharon had had enough. She was sick and tired of being lied to, especially after Cricket said she'd had suspicions and Carlene spilling she'd seen him and Amanda kissing in his office.

'Sharon, I love you. You're my wife!'

'That makes you have to love me, doesn't it Zack Peacham?' She raised an eyebrow. 'You don't love me at all anymore Zack, not after Amanda Vaughn turned up in Dallas again! You look at her like she's some kind of treasure. Well she's not Zack, she's a harlot, and you of all people should know that!' She slowly got to her feet, staring at Zack blankly. It broke his heart, seeing her so upset. Why wasn't he allowed to love two people at once? Why was God restricting him?

'Sharon, baby, you're overreacting...'

'Overreacting? Carlene told me at prayer just the other day she _saw _you kissing her! Even Amanda herself has told me you were all over her like bees on honey! Why are you lying to me Zack? You're breaking our marriage commitment right now. I just want the truth!'

Zack stormed out of the room, slamming the door so loudly it shook the house. He was angry, and Sharon was upset. They'd never had a fight before, and it was all because of the high school bully Amanda who once again decided to ruin anything good going for her.

The house was eerily quiet; the only noises interrupting the silence were Sharon's sniffles. Out of nowhere, a quiet knock on the door made Sharon go completely still. He was back, he wanted to talk. Sharon wasn't ready to confront him, not now he was scarily angry.

'Mommy, are you okay?' said McKinney's voice, her wavy hair appearing before her head around the door.

'I'm okay darling. Just hay fever. Go back and study for your cheerleading, your exam is tomorrow, and you haven't revised.' Sharon wiped her tears with her sweater cuff, forcing a false smile on her somewhat red face, now that her makeup had smeared.

'Momma, I'm not silly. I heard you and daddy yellin' the hall. I'm scared. Why is daddy so angry? He slammed that door pretty loud…' McKinney put her arms around her mother's tense shoulders, nestling her head under her chin.

Sharon twirled a piece of McKinney's hair with her right finger, putting her head softly on top of her daughters.

'We just had a disagreement about something, it's nothing major sweetie. I'm sorry we scared you baby girl.' She sighed.

'Momma… Are you and daddy getting a divorce?' McKinney was curious, and scared. All her life, not once did her mother and father raise their voice towards each other, not once had she ever seen her mother cry.

The room fell silent as Sharon Peacham, lover of God, didn't know what the answer to that question was.


End file.
